Dubai Islamic Bank Q2 profit rises 14.6 pct

DUBAI, July 18 (Reuters) - Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), the United Arab Emirates’ largest sharia-compliant lender, posted a 14.6 percent increase in second-quarter net profit on Wednesday as income from Islamic financing and investment grew.

It is the third Dubai-based bank to report double-digit profit growth for the quarter after Commercial Bank of Dubai and Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, which posted a 30 percent rise in net profit on Wednesday.

DIB made 1.21 billion dirhams ($329.5 million) in the three months to June 30, it said, up from 1.06 billion a year earlier.

SICO Bahrain had forecast the bank would make a quarterly profit of 1.12 billion dirhams.

Earnings were lifted by a 21.6 percent increase in net income from Islamic financing and investment transactions and a 12.7 percent rise in income from fees, commissions and foreign exchange.

That helped offset a 20 percent rise in impairment charges to 223.8 million dirhams.